Razors

ABSTRACT

A skin contacting member for a razor or like shaving device. In use, the skin contacting member is located ahead of a blade or blades of the razor. The skin contacting member has channels formed by stiff wall segments that extend perpendicular to the blade cutting edge for the passage of hairs, and resilient lateral portions that extend into the channel forming narrow regions that engage and pull the hairs passing through the channels in advance of the blades.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to razors. It is particularly concerned with askin contacting member for influencing hair protrusion ahead of a bladeof a safety razor moving across the skin surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention there is provided a skin contactingmember in or for a shaving device, comprising elements spaced apart todefine channels for passage of hairs, the elements having lateral partsextending laterally into the channels for engaging and pulling hairspassing through the channels, said lateral parts being deflectable byresilient deformation to enable a hair to pass through a channel withoutthe elements defining said channel being displaced to restrict anadjacent channel.

One embodiment of a skin contacting member described herein comprises aseries of spaced upstanding elements defining channels therebetween forpassage of hairs in a direction from front to rear of the member, andresiliently flexible lateral parts projecting laterally from saidelements into said channels for engaging hairs to impart thereon pullingforces opposing movement through the channels. In a presently preferredform of this embodiment the upstanding elements comprise substantiallyrigid parallel walls. These walls have resilient laterally projectingparts in the form of flaps with slightly tapering cross-sections andinclined rearwardly in the direction away from the walls. A plurality offlaps are provided on each side of a wall, and the spacing between thefree upright edges of opposed pairs of flaps in a channel graduallyreduces to provide an increasing pulling force on a hair as it movesthrough a channel.

The invention includes a razor blade unit, such as a replaceable shavingcartridge, having a skin contacting member embodying the invention. Theskin contacting member may define a guard surface for contacting theskin in front of the blade edge(s) during shaving. Alternatively, theskin contacting member could be positioned between two blades in a bladeunit having two or more blades.

A better understanding of the invention will be had from the followingdetailed description, reference being made to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows schematically a longitudinal section of a skin contactingmember embodying the invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 show respective modified forms of the member showing inFIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are similar views to FIG. 1 showing alternativeembodiments of skin contacting members in accordance with the invention;and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a shaving cartridge incorporating a skincontacting member according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The skin contacting member illustrated in FIG. 1 is a unitary plasticsstructure with an elongate base 1 shown to have a rectangularconfiguration, but this is unimportant. Extending upwardly from the baseis a series of uniformly spaced elements consisting of parallel walls 2confining between them parallel channels 3 running from front to rear ofthe member. The tops of the walls 2 define the skin contacting surfaceof the member, and with a view to improving comfort the upper frontedges of these walls are rounded off. Projecting into each channel 3from the adjacent walls are pairs of laterally opposed resilient partsin the form of wings or flaps 4. Each flap has an upright free edge,tapers in cross-section towards the free edge from the wall to which itis attached, and is inclined rearwardly at an acute angle to this wall.Due to this inclination the opposed pairs of flaps act to guide orfunnel hairs towards the openings formed between their free edges. Thewidth of the openings between the pairs of flaps in each channeldiminishes progressively in the direction from front to rear along thechannel. At least the rearmost pair of flaps define an opening with awidth A which is less than the diameter of a hair so that theextremities of these flaps are deflected rearwardly as a hair passesthrough the channel and as a consequence the hair is subjected to apulling force due to the friction of the flaps rubbing against it.Pulling the hair in this way can temporarily increase the hair lengthprotruding from the skin surface at a position immediately in front of arazor blade edge 6 so that a close shave may result. The pulling forceexerted on a hair will be determined by the resilience of the flaps aswell as the initial spacing A between their edges, and these will bechosen so that a force sufficient to achieve hair extension withoutcausing discomfort are obtained. If the flaps are made sufficientlyflexible the normal spacing between the flap edges could be very small,or even zero. The pitch B between the centre lines of the channels ispreferably made as small as possible without risking integrity of thestructure so that the majority of hairs pass through the channels as theskin from which they protrude slides over the upper surface of the skincontacting member. The height of the walls and the flaps is notcritical, but should be at least the diameter of a hair.

It should be understood that the described skin contacting member is anexemplary embodiment of the invention only and modifications arepossible without departing from the scope of the claims. For example, ineach channel resilient flaps might be provided on only one of the wallsconfining the channel. If a narrow member is desired, e.g. for locationbetween two blades in a razor blade unit, two pairs or just a singlepair of flaps could be provided in each channel.

In the modified skin contacting member illustrated in FIG. 2, ratherthan being carried on a base the parallel walls 12 defining the channels13 are formed integrally with a bar or plate 10 extending along thefront of the member and from which the walls extend rearwardly.Otherwise the member of this embodiment can be as described inconnection with the first embodiment. The walls 12 and the flaps 14suitably extend to a height of about 0.1 mm above the height of the topedge of the bar 10.

The modified skin contacting member of FIG. 3 has separate elements 20defining respective pairs of lateral parts in the form of resilientlyflexible flaps 24 directed generally oppositely into adjacent channels23. The flaps, which are otherwise arranged as in the embodiments ofFIGS. 1 and 2, act to exert a light pulling force on the hairs passingthrough the channels in the same way as they do in the previousembodiments. The individual elements 20 may undergo a degree of flexingin the rearward direction under the forces exerted by the skin duringshaving although this is not essential and will not impair the hairpulling effect of the flaps if it does occur.

The skin contacting member illustrated in FIG. 4 is made of elastomerand has generally parallel walls 32 upstanding from and formedintegrally with a base 31. These walls have straight central portionsand on either side thereof wedge shaped lateral parts formed integrallywith the central portion and defining laterally inclined upright flankswhereby the channels 33 defined between the walls 32 taper from front torear of the member. The hairs passing through the channels are able todeflect the sidewalls of the channel, due to the resilientlycompressible nature of the material forming the lateral parts of thewalls 32, so that they can pass through the rear end portions of thechannels although the channel width is less than the hair diameter whileexperiencing a light pulling force acting to draw the hairs from theskin which is sliding over the surface defined by the top faces of thewalls 32.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the invention in which channels 43 aredefined by upstanding elements 40 integral with a base 41 and in theform of posts 42 with laterally projecting parts in the form of flaps44. The flaps are arranged in opposed pairs and can be resilientlydeflected by hairs passing along the channels 43 due to the posts 42undergoing torsional twistings about their axes. In this manner theflaps are adapted to exert a light pulling force on the hair. Theelements 40 of this embodiment may be capable of flexing rearwardlyunder the forces encountered during shaving, but as mentioned above inrelation to the FIG. 3 embodiment, such flexing is not essential to norwill it detract from the hair pulling effect of the element.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 1-3, it is not essential for the flaps to bearranged in opposed pairs. They can be offset along the channelsprovided their edges are positioned so that the desired pulling forcesare still applied to hairs passing along the channel. Similarly, it isnot crucial for the flaps in these embodiments to be rewardly inclinedand they could be substantially perpendicular to the length of thechannel, or perhaps be forwardly inclined towards their free edges.

FIG. 6 shows a shaving cartridge equipped with a skin contracting member50 in accordance with the invention. The skin contracting member 50 isillustrated only schmatically but it could take the specific form of anyone of the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 5. Apart from the skin contractingmember 50, the cartridge is of a known construction. As shown itincludes two parallel blades 51, 52 carried by a frame between guard andcap. The skin contacting member 50 is shown positioned immediately infront of the cutting edge of the first blade 51, but a skin contactingmember according to the invention could additionally or alternatively belocated between the blades for pulling hairs directly in front of thesecond blade 52.

We claim:
 1. A shaving unit comprising an elongate skin engagementmember for contacting the skin in advance of a cutting element movedacross the skin during shaving,said skin engagement member being definedby a series of elements having stiff central wall portions and resilientlateral portions, the central wall portions defining channelstherebetween that are arranged for hairs to pass therethrough, thecentral wall portions resisting displacement in response to lateralforces tending to deflect the central wall portions to restrict adjacentchannels, the lateral portions extending from the central wall portionsinto the channels and having upstanding free end walls located in thechannels, wherein lateral portions extend from opposed adjacent centralwall portions towards each other to define between their free end wallsan open region within each channel for the passage of hairs, theadjacent lateral portions being formed and spaced apart along thechannel to engage resiliently the hairs passing through the channel forapplying a light pulling force to the hairs as the skin from which thehairs project slides over the skin engagement member, and wherein eachof the channels extends from a mouth at a leading edge of the skinengagement member to a trailing edge thereof proximate the cuttingelement, the width of the open region within each channel defining,between at least one pair of free end walls rearward from the mouththereof, a minimum value less than the diameter of a hair, and theadjacent lateral portion free end walls being resiliently movable awayfrom a centerline of the channel in the lateral direction transverse tothe channel in response to passage of the hairs through the channelwhile substantially not deflecting the central wall portionstransversely towards adjacent channels, hairs passing through thechannels being gripped between the adjacent lateral portions to extendthe hairs from the skin and the hairs being released at the trailingedge of the skin engaging member to meet the cutting element beforeretracting into the skin.
 2. A shaving unit according to claim 1,wherein the width of the open region within the channel tapersrearwardly from the mouth thereof to the trailing edge.
 3. A shavingunit according to claim 1, wherein the elements are integrally formedwith a carrier.
 4. A shaving unit according to claim 3, wherein thecarrier is a base from which the elements extend upwardly.
 5. A shavingunit according to claim 1, wherein the central wall portions aresubstantially parallel.
 6. A shaving unit according to claim 1, whereinlateral portions are disposed in opposed pairs at substantially the samelocation along the central wall portions.
 7. A shaving unit according toclaim 1, wherein opposed adjacent lateral portions are offset along thechannel.
 8. A shaving unit according to claim 1, wherein the centralwall portions are substantially uninterrupted from the leading edge tothe trailing edge along each channel.
 9. A shaving unit according toclaim 1, wherein the elements have wedge-shaped lateral portionsdefining inclined lateral surfaces on either side of each central wallportion, the lateral portions being formed of a resiliently compressiblematerial.
 10. A shaving unit according to claim 1, wherein the cuttingelement is a sharpened blade edge.
 11. A shaving unit according to claim1, wherein the resilient lateral portions comprise a plurality of flapsprojecting into the channels and having upwardly directed free edges.12. A shaving unit according to claim 1, wherein the lateral portionsare rearwardly inclined towards the channel trailing edge.
 13. A shavingunit according to claim 1, wherein the lateral portions taper from thecentral wall portions towards their free end walls.
 14. A shaving unitaccording to claim 1, wherein the lateral portion free end walls aresubstantially upright and generally perpendicular to an upper skincontacting surface of the elements.
 15. A shaving unit according toclaim 1, wherein the central wall portions comprise posts and thelateral portions comprise flaps that are deflectable under torsion ofthe posts.
 16. A shaving unit according to claim 11, wherein theelements comprise respective pairs of resiliently flexible flapsdirected to project into adjacent channels.
 17. A shaving unit accordingto claim 11, wherein the central wall portions are substantiallyparallel.
 18. A shaving unit according to claim 11, wherein the flapsare laterally rearwardly inclined towards their free edges.
 19. Ashaving unit according to claim 11, wherein the flaps taper towardstheir free edges.
 20. A shaving unit according to claim 11, wherein thecentral wall portions are substantially uninterrupted from the leadingedge to the trailing edge along each channel.
 21. A shaving unitaccording to claim 11, wherein the flaps are arranged in opposed pairsin each channel.
 22. A shaving unit according to claim 1, wherein thereis a plurality of opposed pairs of flaps in each channel.
 23. A shavingunit according to claim 22, wherein the width of the open region betweenthe plurality of opposed flap pairs within the channel tapers rearwardlyfrom the mouth thereof to the trailing edge.
 24. A shaving unitaccording to claim 1, wherein the skin engagement member occupies aposition of a guard in advance of a first cutting element.
 25. A shavingunit according to claim 1 and having a plurality of generally parallelcutting elements, wherein the skin engagement member is positionedbetween a first and a second cutting element.